British Museum Extension Gets Major Financial Boost

Lord Sainsbury (the Tory one) has gifted £25 million to the British Museum, the largest donation to the arts for two decades. The pledge will go a long way to ensuring construction of a new £135 million World Conservation and Exhibitions Centre, to be tucked away round the back of the building. Sainsbury and his family are no strangers to local philanthropy. They previously financed construction of a National Gallery wing, and gave a helping hand to the Royal Opera House. Still a ways to go before the family name competes with that of Jospeh Duveen, who bankrolled extensions to at least four of London's major cultural institutions.